Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will update the Survey of Noise Attitudes 2017 report to incorporate the most recent WHO guidance on the lowest acceptable level of noise.
The World Health Organisation Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region, published in October 2018, use an evidence base on aviation noise from global studies similar to the Survey of Noise Attitudes (SoNA) 2014. SoNA 2014 was published in 2017 and was therefore not available to be considered by the WHO in its evidence review.
My department forms part of the Interdepartmental Group on Costs and Benefits (Noise), which has been convened to review its current guidance and consider whether any updates are necessary. The Group will give careful consideration to the evidence base for the WHO Guidelines, as well as any other relevant recent research carried out in the UK and abroad. The department is also considering the need to commission a further Survey of Noise Attitudes to provide updated results.